Paramore's After laughter: pop punk or pop rock?
Paramore may be moving towards pop, but their lyrics will still hit you in your feelings
Paramore is a band mostly associated with pop punk or teenage angst stages, mostly in reference to their earlier albums. If you do any type of research on the band itself, you'll see there are four or five different genres that the band is associated with. Earlier in their career they were considered pop punk or even just rock, because of the angst and combination of distorted electric guitars with pop influenced melodies. You see this vibe in songs such as "misery business" or "hallelujah" with heavy electric guitars with a pop influenced melody, that is the Paramore most people are used to. The band has been producing music since 2005, going on twelve years in the music industry. Through a time period of twelve years they're bound to evolve in sound, I mean don't you ever cringe at photos from when you were like 13? Thats because you've changed, evolved even. Thats exactly what happens when musical artists jump in and out of sub genres.
You might ask yourself, if they're not pop punk then "what" exactly are they? According to Apple Music they are considered alternative, but some may even call it pop rock. What is the difference between the two, when they're commonly confused to be the two sub genres? well according to google pop punk is a sub genre of rock that includes distorted electric guitars along with pop lyrics and melodies. Meanwhile pop rock is described as rock music that doesn't focus so much on the attitude that pop punk does. Pop rock is also the genre in which artists like David Bowie, and The Beetles fall into.
This album "after laughter" is very unique when put beside the slew of albums that Paramore has released throughout the years. The energy is high as always, but there isn't as much distorted electric guitar or the teenage angst you feel in albums like "Riot". Although there is no way to deny that this album is very much still a descendant of the rock genre, it has a lot of the 80's electronica feeling to it. There are less guitar and more drums and dynamic beats to the songs throughout. Paramore's relatable lyrics haven't changed in the slightest, its still very relatable and geared towards there young adult/ teenage audience.
The top songs on the album include "hard times" and "rose colored boy" which are both high energy and still discuss emotional things, the things that make life a little bit more difficult. In "Rose Colored Boy" the lyrics suggest that the boy she's talking to has a happy-go-lucky view on life, and she's tired of it. Later in the song she goes on to say that she see's life for what it is because of all of the hardships she's been through. The most outstanding lyric has to be "Just let me cry a little bit longer. I ain't gon' smile if I don't want to- Hey man, we all can't be like you. I wish we were all rose-colored too" the lyric just explains itself, and the song perfectly. In "hard times" Hayley Williams, the vocalist of the band, keeps expressing her experience with struggles in life. She talks about themes of depression and hopelessness that comes along with growing up, lyrics that just about sum that up are "(Hard times) Gonna make you wonder why you even try(Hard times) Gonna take you down and laugh when you cry(These lives) And I still don't know how I even survive".
Hayley sends a message of conquering depression, and how going through hard times can and will change how you look at life and its not always a bad thing. She and the band put music together thats relatable, empowering, and catchy all at the same time.